Back in October of last year, I figured it was time to keep better track of my Miles driven, fuel consumption and the like, maybe some patterns would emerge, maybe I could get a semi-accurate read on the fuel economy for my ride.
First task: how to log the data. I'd need to capture the miles driven, fuel cost, gallons purchased at the least to have the data necessary to calculate fuel consumption. Here's my alternatives:
- Old-style pen/paper. Follow-up with a calculator, or abacus, or count on fingers, except when dividing.
- Fancy-pants application for the mini-computer I carry with me most of the time.
MPG, says the EPA
Thanks EPA! |
Six months of painstaking (well, not really painstaking) data collection later and with 293K odd miles on the clock and I'm measuring about 19MPG after about 5,800 miles travelled. My typical trip into work is about 10 miles over country roads and 15 miles on the highway motoring along at 60 knots. Even not-so-observant readers will note the outlier in late December. My guess is this was the result of keypunch error and not me drifting downhill the prior tank.
Instant MPG
MPG on secondary roads |
MPG on highway |
Cost per Mile Driven: Cheap!
Stats from FillUp |
Does Gas-Saving Maintenance Make Sense?
That also raises the question regarding other maintenance work generally associated with improving gas mileage. Should I bother? The air filter was replaced as part of the initial service of the car, but the spark plugs and fuel filter haven't been touched. I have a fuel filter on hand, as it may have been a culprit for another problem (it wasn't), so I can replace that soon.
Next thing to consider is the spark plugs. Changing the spark plugs means removing the intake manifold and a bunch of other parts to gain access. Considering the work involved, I'm not so sure that I would see much of a difference fuel efficiency: each 1% MPG increase would net me $8 dollars over the next 6 months, so I would need to see an increase of over 10% MPG (about 1.8 MPG) to get a 6 month ROI on my spark plug change, and that prices my labor at 0. While I might dig in and change the plugs for entertainment value, it wouldn't necessarily be economically reasonable.